Strokes of Genius 8

Strokes Of Genius 8: Expressive Texture (Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing)
South Grand Island Bridge, Ink on Arches rough watercolor paper, 8"x10"
Basilica, Ink on Arches rough watercolor paper, 10" x 8"

I'm excited to announce that two of my drawings have been published in  Strokes Of Genius 8, by North Light Books. My drawings of the Grand Island Bridge and the Basilica are featured on pages 36-37. The theme of the book is "Expressive Texture" which is something that I often incorporate into my work. The bold lines were drawn with wood stick dipped into ink, which was and enjoyable break from using traditional drawing materials.

Grand Island Bridge

Grand Island Bridge
Pen and Ink on watercolor paper
5”x7”
Chris Breier ©2014

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This ink drawing is the view of the South Grand Island Bridge from Niawanda Park.

Below is a time lapse video of me working on this drawing. You'll notice that I don't draw with pencil first, I start with the pen and just draw over any mistakes that I make. Also, in the beginning you can see me making hatch marks where the important shapes are located and then connect them.

I stopped the video when I thought it was done but then I decided that it would look more dramatic if I darkened the bridge so that it was in silhouette. I think this could be Framed Ink influencing me. It's more suited for comic book artists or storyboard artists but it has a lot tips about composition, using negative space and other topics that apply to the visual arts.

If you liked this drawing you may be interested in other painting or drawings of the Grand Island Bridge.

Grand Island Bridge

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The challenge of this painting was to simplify the complexity of the bridges. I accomplished this by merging similar shapes and by eliminating the minor details. There are two bridges; one is Northbound and the other is Southbound. They are much taller than they appear in this mini painting! That narrow strip of light blue is the Niagara River.

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Grand Island Bridge (SOLD)

This painting is of the South Grand Island Bridge at dusk. I was interested in implying the girders of the bridge without getting too bogged down in the detail. The fun part was painting the reflection in the water because it's a loose colorful abstraction of the bridge, but upside down.

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